Reborn: The Return of the Villainous Mr. Liu-Chapter 1185: The light beyond the boulder

"I’m not crying..!" Shui quickly wiped her eyes, panicked. "It’s a very beautiful gift."

She imagined how he would have looked with a serious expression doing his thorough research to find her the perfect paintbrush. She couldn’t explain why but holding it felt like..she had gotten a renewed purpose. She stared at it, thinking about the last exhibition.

The last painting she had willed herself to draw was of the symbolism of her waiting for Jin. Ever since then, she wasn’t really able to feel it anymore - the passion to draw. Blooming art gallery’s manager had been harping her to work on her next project, but had only been running away from it. Because no matter how much she tried, her mind felt blank. She could only see darkness beyond, and when she lifted her pencil, she didn’t really know what she wanted to draw about.

Why should I continue drawing in the first place...?

It was a blank canvas before her every single time. She told the people around her, she told herself that she was just taking a break. But she knew the ugly truth that she was struggling to find her creativity. It was like a giant boulder had blocked her way which was too heavy to just push away.

Which was why Zhong Sihan’s challenge had shaken her. He wanted her to paint if she wanted to save Blooming. She had to make a man like him stop to look at her art, and not just look, but affect him hard enough that it would shatter his disdain for it. That he would see Han Tian in a new light, whom he always frowned upon. She had courageously accepted the challenge but she was already sinking even before she had started.

The paintbrush she held trembled in her hand.

Shui hadn’t been able to think of a concept for a long time. Time was ticking by, but the canvas remained blank. It was when she felt she had no other choice to approach Lin. As he had spent more time with Zhong Sihan, she thought he was her only answer to move that huge boulder from her way.

And it was that day when she had drawn after a long time.

The sketches of Lin and Cai that hung on the wall in frames was the first time in a long time that a shape had finally taken form on her blank canvas.

There Lin was, standing before a table and serving a customer with a pleasant smile on his lips, sunlight gently falling upon his right profile. At that moment, Shui felt the boulder blocking her way to her art and passion shifting just a little. She thought that her life was slowly becoming dull and grey because she couldn’t visualize her art anymore. But that sketch had brought a crack and sprinkled a tinge of colors back into her life that she was so afraid of losing.

And now as she held this paintbrush, a sense of warm and airy lightheadedness washed over her. She had a vague sense of what to draw for Zhong Sihan, but it was as if this brush was the last push of courage she needed. A renewed faith that she would finally be able to move the boulder away after the long wait to see the light.

"Miss. Han."

The misty gaze cleared from her eyes and she looked up, only for her breath to get stuck in her throat for Lin was leaning over her with a slight tilt to his head. Concern and panic glinted in his eyes as he stared at her.

"If you don’t mind.." Lin paused for a moment and touched her forehead. "Your face looked redder so I thought if it’s a fever, but it doesn’t look like it. I’m glad."

Shui’s lips parted and closed, feeling his palm pressed upon her forehead. He said she wasn’t feverish but she wondered why his hand radiated a pleasant, cool touch.

"Would you like a cup of hot coffee? Or would you like something cold to drink?"

"I-I don’t know..."

Lin blinked.

She realized she probably said a stupid thing and inwardly bit her tongue.

He thought about it. "I think a refreshing fruit punch will help you feel better."

"It’s okay..! I really wasn’t crying," she hastily looked to her right, unable to meet his eyes but his arm came into her view that rested on the table upon his palm. She automatically remembered the boxing day where she had seen him fighting.

She hadn’t met Lin quite often during the times he worked in Sky with Jun, but she remembered how he barely made his presence known. She had only seen him in passing, and in those memories, he was a quiet man, not as physically strong as Jun and who stood like he would never pose a threat to anybody.

The six years had now changed him. She saw it when he fought with other men, and she saw it now as her eyes traced the muscles on his arm. His gaze had changed. His stance was harmless most of the time, but he could look threatening if he wanted to - like the time he handled the stalker boyfriend.

"Please stay here. I will bring some refreshment for you."

"I really.."

"No ifs and buts."

Lin gave her a stern look and then walked into the kitchen. He closed the door behind him and leaned on it, exhaling a silent breath. He stared ahead at particularly nothing, but an odd hammering was hitting his chest from all sides. He lowered his gaze to his hand that was just touching Shui’s forehead until a moment ago.

Suddenly, he wondered if he had been standing too close to her. Her forehead felt slightly warm to touch. She wasn’t as feverish as he had feared her to be, so he was now struggling to understand why a trace of her warmth still lingered on his palm?

Why was he happy to see her like his gift but sad to find the tears plopping upon her eyelashes?

Why was everything about Shui...strangely making him restless?